


Inferno

by RaspberrySwish



Category: A Series of Unfortunate Events (TV), A Series of Unfortunate Events - Lemony Snicket
Genre: ATWQ Era, F/F, Firestarter Penny, POV Third Person Limited, Penny POV, Penny is Mrs. Q, Some Time Passes at the End, Volunteer Josephine
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-10
Updated: 2020-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:55:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22202941
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaspberrySwish/pseuds/RaspberrySwish
Summary: The Silence was unbearable. Except when she was with Josephine. So it should have been expected that she got up to some trouble when they were forced apart.
Relationships: Josephine Anwhistle & Mrs. Quagmire, Josephine Anwhistle/Mrs. Quagmire
Kudos: 2





	Inferno

**Author's Note:**

> We don't have any confirmed names or initials for either of the Quagmire Triplet's Parents, so in this fic (and all my others) I use the placeholder name Penny for Mrs. Quagmire.
> 
> I hope you like it! <3 <3 <3

It was Quiet without her, and she hated Quiet. The lack of sound, of speech, of feeling, was almost painful to her. It reminded her of horrible things, or gruesome things, of the images that would surface as she fell asleep. This was her life, her world, and she would not let it be extinguished.

She scoffed at the irony. Twenty-five years in an organization that valued quiet, it was a miracle that it didn't drive her insane. Correction: it did drive her insane. 

Well, it almost did. There was only one thing that made it bearable, made it worth it to live like that, in the quiet. 

Josephine.

Josephine was loud, she was light and fire and love, all swirling together in a frenzy of emotions. With Josephine she could stand it, they made their own noise, their own version of the world, one full of laughter and sounds, and bursting at the seams with unnameable feelings.

Together, they were amazing, unstoppable, an inferno. 

And infernos drew a lot of attention.

It was gradual at first, being forced apart. She didn’t notice as their lives began to change, as the organization began to change them.

They were both given another specialty, a calmer one, a quieter one. It drove Penny insane.

But Josephine was still there, still with her, and so she still did it. 

They would sneak out together at night, causing trouble, going on adventures. They were eleven years old, and the world was at their fingertips.

Then came the apprenticeships. 

They gave them a list, you know, fifty-two names, written numerically on a little slip of paper.

She sat with Josephine that night, the papers set in front of them as they lay on the floor of her room, trying to figure out the best way to stay together. 

Then they found it, the perfect plan. Ranked numbers twenty-two and twenty-three, two siblings, or perhaps a couple, two individuals with the same record and last name. 

Five days later, when Penny found herself on the other side of the country, was the first time she considered that the split might have been on purpose.

They put her up with a quiet mentor, in a quiet little town, far outside the city and anything exciting. Far from Josephine, high above.

But not for long. Penny made a choice, there and then, to get back to her, to find a way to be back with her friend, to not let anyone get in her way again. 

She stewed. During the day, she schemed and she plotted, pretending to be a good apprentice, a boring apprentice, a quiet apprentice.

During the night she snuck out, causing trouble and making problems, none of which could be traced back to her. Or so she thought.

She was praised by her mentor as a model apprentice, and graduated with ease. 

She saw Josephine again, and they grew closer and closer, as if nothing had happened, nothing had torn them apart. 

But both girls both grew older, and time passed, and things grew more complicated, more complicated than her little secret, one she thought no one knew.

It only surfaced again years later, following a harsh fight and two broken hearts, when she was offered an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.

A world without silence.

How could she say no?


End file.
